What They Make It Look Like Ain’t Always What It Is!

By Baba Eng

The idea of two very different voices, from two distinctly different political camps, pushing the same basic message should raise obvious questions. Is it really a coincidence, or is it a Con-Incidence? Just think about that for a moment.

The entire world is now acknowledging that America was born in the quintessential "Original Sin." In my mind, the original sin of America was—and still is—the enslavement of African people. Period. That was its first wrong, its first evil, and it happened in America in a way that it did not happen anywhere else on the planet.

Nowhere else on Earth were people stripped of their humanity and made into "chattel" in the way it was done in America. Chattel, by definition, means property— something owned, no longer human. That is what white America turned us into. Let’s be clear on that. This was achieved through years of negative propaganda and false narratives about Black people—in movies, commercials, schools, billboards, even in churches and mosques.

The daily narrative that people communicate and spread throughout the world has long been rooted in the false idea of Black inferiority and white superiority. In branding, advertising, and entertainment, Black people have been depicted in the most demeaning and even animalistic ways. Think of films like Birth of a Nation and the offensive portrayals in Amos and Andy—these stereotypes are still rampant in American culture, a culture that is exported globally.

For further proof, watch Professor Asa Hilliard’s video, The Defamation of Black People—a documentary that exposes the extremes white America has gone to in order to denigrate and demonize Black people in the minds of the world.

This systemic defamation was codified into law by the Supreme Court of the United States in the infamous Dred Scott decision, where the Chief Justice stated that Black people had no rights that white people were bound to respect. That was only one case. Then came Plessy v. Ferguson, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration— all reinforcing the same message: Black lives were expendable in the eyes of American law.

This is real. This is not fiction. No one could make up this kind of insanity. Fast forward to 2025, and we have yet another President of the United States standing before the world and proclaiming that "America is not a racist country."

Then, as if on cue, they send out one of the top "Negros" in the country, beloved by Donald Trump and ultra-conservative Republicans: Tim Scott. He stands on national television and, as a Black man, boldly states:

"I know America is not a racist country."

And he said that lie with a straight face, while prostituting his own mother on international television, claiming:

"My dear mother taught me that."

Lies. This was a one-two punch to the gut of every truth-telling, truth-seeking, and truth-upholding Black and white person I know.

Tim Scott even went so far as to claim that recent laws restricting voting rights in Georgia were actually helpful to Black folks. Yes, he really said that. Meanwhile, we know that the only thing that put a muzzle on former President Joe Biden's racist inclinations was Vice President Kamala Harris. Lest we forget, it was Senator Joe Biden who was at the forefront of mass incarceration, labeling Black and Brown men as predators.

With all of this in mind, is it far-fetched to think that maybe former President Joe Biden slipped away from Kamala Harris’ oversight and cut a deal with Republicans like Tim Scott to push the false narrative that America is not a racist country?

Consider the race riots, lynchings, and recent events like January 6th. Consider the fact that over 70 million Americans voted for a man who spewed racist diatribes from the White House for four years—a man whose cronies now openly perform Nazi salutes on national stages and who pardons insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol, assaulted officers, and committed murder.

This is how con men operate.

Step 1: One con artist gains your trust.

Step 2: Another con artist—who pretends to have no connection to the first—moves in for the rip-off.

And just like that, they strip you of everything.

In this case those valuables being Our Right to choose who we put in public office to represent us. Just think about that and how it played out on the same night, actually on the same channel and know for a fact that the valuables at stake right now are the highest they have ever been, which is the actual future of Black People in America and the world. My people know it is the time when we have to come together and really be on the same page with our words and our actions. Words do count and actions really do matter, so listen carefully to everything that everyone says, including me, and talk about it in groups of real friends that you know. Have those discussions that ain’t nobody else talking about.

All of this matters and everyone matters. All of our voices and all of our analysis’ belong on the table and in your heart of hearts, My People believe that we can work it out. We really do have some among us who are capable of understanding our history and our present condition in ways that will help us strategize and work together to serve our collective interest as Black people. When we join that in solidarity with what the rest of the world’s humanity is thinking and doing then that makes for a future where all of us can really breathe. And yes we can say it loud and clear that all of us matter, Equally and with Equity and We don’t leave none of US behind!